Black boxes from crashed Boeing recovered

ADDIS ABABA: Investigators have recovered both black box recorders from the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 that crashed just outside Addis Ababa, killing all 149 passengers and eight crew, the carrier said yesterday.

“The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of ET302 have been Recovered,” the state-owned airline announced on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Indonesia joined other nations in grounding its Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets after the Ethiopian Airlines crash and another deadly accident involving the same model near Jakarta in October.

“The Director General of Air Transport will take steps to carry out inspections and temporarily prohibit Boeing 737 Max 8 from flying in Indonesia,” Director General Polana Pramesti told reporters in Jakarta.

The inspections on Indonesia’s 11 Max 8 jets would start Tuesday and the plane would remain grounded until it was cleared by safety regulators, she added.

The Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed is the same type as the Indonesian Lion Air jet that crashed in October, just minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.

Ten of Indonesia’s Max 8 jets are operated by Lion Air while the other is flown by national carrier Garuda. — AFP